SWAT Kats: The New Recruit: Part one
by ArcticSpirit46
Summary: Lara Tailyor is a new member of the SWAT Kat family, and her first day is anything but lazy. Jake goes missing and they have only 24 hours to save him before he's unmasked to the world.
1. Beginning

This is my first story ever published EVER. Please give me any feedback you have about my story, positive or negative. I'm very pleased with it, for it was originally a six page story I was coaxed into putting here. If you give me any feedback, like I said, I'll greatly appreciate it! Thanks and enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned SWAT Kats, I'd be really happy. But, since I don't, I can only wish I did. Lara, however, is mine. If you want to use her, just let me know, ok?

SWAT Kats: The New Recruit

The story starts out eighteen years in the past. There is a woman whose face is covered by a veil. She is running from some lasers being shot. In her hands she has a bundle wrapped in blankets. She is also carrying a basket.

"If I can't have a good life, there is no reason you need to die with me." The woman says. She takes out a piece of parchment that has been written on. She places the bundle in the basket and floats it down a river. "Goodbye, Lara." The woman says with tears streaming down her cheeks. The basket floats down to a country house outside of MegaKat City. There a farmer and his wife find the baby kat in the basket and rescue her. They read the parchment:

"To whoever raises this girl, please raise her with the care and love that we were not able to provide. Her name is Lara. Please take care of her."

Present day MegaKat City. Lara is now nineteen years old. She is a white kat with brown hair. She is small for her age, but is very strong. She has always dreamt of going to the city to become an Enforcer. She tries to do it, but they turn her down and make her work in the scrap yard.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WORK IN THE SCRAP YARD!" Lara shouted at the officer.

"I mean that those were the Commander's orders, now pick up your clothes and move along!" the officer shouted back at her.

"Grr…." Lara thought. She picked up her clothes and was on her way to the scrap yard. There, Chance heard her coming, and ran to attack her, but she flung him into the air, and he came down with a loud thud which aroused Jake. He came over to see her, and at first, Jake started to drift off into space by infatuation. "Why you little punk! Why in the heck would you attack someone walking by minding their own business?" Lara shouted. Jake was shaken from his daze and walked over to Lara. She looked at him while he was walking over and started to blush and look at him blankly. Jake took notice of the look and started to fuss with his hair and pick at his fur. Lara started to laugh because he thought he had something on him. "Well, aren't you charming?" Lara said in a sweet voice she hadn't ever, and I mean EVER used.

"Well, you're sweet, but could you please remove your foot from my partner?" Jake said. Lara took her foot off of Chance and dusted him off, but gave him a sneer, then she looked at Jake. "What brings you to our little, scrap yard?"

"Well, that jerk Commander Feral told me to go here all because of an elevator incident." Lara said. Jake and Chance gave her the look of, what did you do, so she told them. "I was tinkering with the wires, just after he admitted me, and the whole elevator lost power and flew down the shaft. When it stopped, he sentenced me to work here to pay off my damages."

"Well, sounds like us, ey Jake?" Chance said with a smirk on his face. Jake nodded. "Well, welcome to the yard. It's not any luxury, but it's a start." Chance said.

"A start? This place is a DUMP! I won't get my new school clothes dirty." Lara said.

"School clothes? What grade are you in?" Jake asked her.

"I'm a junior in college. Why?" Lara answered, puzzled.

"Just asking. We thought you were younger. Anyway, Chance finished with a bachelor's degree in piloting, and I graduated with a master's degree in technology."

"So why are you working here? I'd think that you would be somewhere else. No offense." Lara said.

"Well, we were junior Enforcers, but we were pursuing Dark Kat when our jet crashed into the Enforcers main building. Feral wanted our heads for the damages, but he made us work here to pay beck the debt." Jake said. "You know we haven't introduced ourselves and we've been talking this whole time. Anyway, my name is Jake Clawson."

"I'm his buddy, Chance Furlong. I'm the better of the two."

"EXCUSE ME? I thought you just said that YOU were the better of us." Jake snapped.

"Um…anyway, I'm Lara Tailyor." Lara said, breaking the two from the squabble.

"Well, welcome to our little family" Chance said. The twosome showed Lara around the hanger, explaining everything that goes on there. Then, Lara found the secret.

"Well, I'm not going to dirty my clothes, so I'm going to change in this room here, I…YAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"LARA!" Jake and Chance yelled as she stumbled upon the entrance to the SWAT Kat lair. Jake and Chance lunged down the shoot to try and catch Lara. "Hang on Lara! We're coming!" When Chance, Lara and Jake landed, Lara was stunned to see the base.

"This…is…incredible! I can't believe it! My two new best friends are the SWAT Kats! No way!" Lara burst out saying.

"Well, you found out the secret. Now, promise us that you wont tell anyone." Jake said.

"Ok, under one condition;" Lara said as the two waited for a response. "You need to induct me into the team."

"Well, that sounds reasonable. What can you do?" Chance asked her.

"Well, didn't you experience it first hand?" Lara smirked. Chance was not sure what she meant, but then he remembered how she took him down with only one hand. Him, a big, burly Kat like himself taken down by a seemingly small girl.

"Well, what is it?" Jake asked.

"Remember how I took down Chance when I arrived? I have some pretty good close range combat skills to show off. Watch this!" Lara said. She took out a punching bag that she had in her amazing backpack. She had begun to beat it down. She stopped before it became a stuffy pulp. "The only reason I stopped was because even though it would have been a worthless scumbag, it still had a reason to live, and it would be better off in jail." Lara stated. Jake and Chance clapped for her.

"Well, that is some talent you have there. I say that you should be added to the team. What about you Jake?" Chance said

"I say yeah. Welcome aboard Lara! Now, you will need a codename to go by so no one can figure out our identities."

"Well, I like the name Streak." Lara said. The two thought about it, and they agreed it was a good name.

"Ok, now all we need to do is make up your costume." Jake said.

"Oh, no worries. I made my own costume when I was at my house when I was little. I can make a new one that will fit me today." Lara said. Jake nodded, and chance asked her what else she could do. "Well, I can cook, and I can…um…draw?" Lara said, dumbly.

"Well, that's pretty good, considering that Jake here is a lousy cook." Chance said. Jake was infuriated.

"HEY, I MADE PANCAKES ONCE!"

"Yeah, and they tasted like burnt wood." Chance said to edge on Jake. Lara started to laugh and Chance gave Jake, who was red, a laugh and a pat on the back. Whenever Chance did that, he usually meant, "Lighten up, Jake. You know that I'm joking." "Well, let's see that costume." Chance said. Lara pulled out the picture of her costume. It was a full body suit that was purple. On the shoulders there were hot pink triangles. On the legs there were sea green stripes. It also had a mask with pointed tips that was light blue.

"So, do you like it?" Lara said with hope. Jake and Chance huddled near each other.

"Well, it's different. That's pretty much all that we can say. We're not sure how it will hook up with the tech on the TurboKat, but I'll find a way to fix that. Other than the colors clashing with our uniforms, it's ok" Jake said.

"You think I should change the colors?" Lara said.

Chance thought she took offense to it. "No no! The colors are…unique, but it's not like ours."

"Well, that's ok. I could try it out with the colors that you have on your outfits." Lara offered.

"Uh…ok. I'll get on it." Jake said. "I'm going to need to…uh…" Jake stuttered. He wasn't entirely sure how to say that he needed her measurements. He started to blush and Lara looked confused. Chance gave him a smack on the back and he blurted out, "YOUR MEASUREMENTS!" Jake looked incredibly red in the face. Chance burst out laughing, and Lara looked a bit stunned. "Uh…th...that is for the suit…" Jake said, trying to redeem himself. Lara and Chance were laughing and Jake seemed to blush madly.

"Oh, poor Jake. You could have just asked me without being embarrassed." Lara said sweetly. At that point, Chance was laughing so hard he was crying. Jake was embarrassed, and Lara was a bit confused. "So….where's the jet?" Lara asked. "I want to fly it!" Chance stopped laughing instantly.

"Whoa, hold on there. YOU want to fly MY jet?" Chance said.

"Yeah, got a problem?" Lara snapped.

"Well, it's just that you are a girl half my size." Chance said with a devilish grin.

"WELL, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A GIRL CAN DO!" Lara yelled. She and Chance started to fight, and Lara was winning. In the end, Lara beat Chance hands down. "Now, anything ELSE you'd like to say?" Lara said triumphantly.

"No…" Chance growled under his breath. "I want to see your piloting skills. Take this simulation."

"Fine, I will." Lara said. She got into the simulation and started. Just after takeoff, she crashed. "Hehe…uh…that was a practice!" Lara said with a grin of innocence on her face.

"Um, no." Chance said, dampening her spirits.

"Hey, where's Jake?" Lara said suddenly. Chance looked around.

"JAKE! JAKE! WHERE ARE YOU?" Chance yelled. Lara ran towards a room with the door mysteriously opened.

"Maybe he's in here!" Lara yelled.

"Wait, get into your suit. If someone sees us, they might figure out who we are." Chance said, throwing Lara's old costume at her. They put on their costumes and ran through the door.

"Hey, what is this thing?" Lara said as she walked toward a piece of paper on the floor. "It reads; 'Dear SWAT Kats. I have Razor in my clutches. If you want him back before I remove his mask and reveal him to the world, surely exposing yours also, come to my tower and try to save him in the next 24 hours.. Signed, the Avenger of Souls.' That sounds creepy, but we need to save Ja..." Lara was cut off by T-Bone.

"Say his codename. We can't afford that to be slipped out. I'm T-Bone and he's Razor. You are Streak, remember?" T-Bone told her.

"Got it! Let's go T-bone! To the TurboKat!" Streak said with zeal in her voice. T-Bone and Streak rushed to the jet. T-Bone told her to sit in Razor's seat. Streak and T-Bone jumped into the jet and took off. "T-Bone, what if I'm not ready? What if we fail because of me…" Streak said sadly.

"Don't think like that! Just think that you will win and you will! Remember, Razor is relying on us. We can't let him down."

We'll get Razor and make sure we take The Avenger of Souls down!" T-Bone said with confidence.

"Ok, FOR RAZOR!" Streak yelled out. "Hey, T-Bone, how do I work this thing?" Streak said suddenly.

"Well, I think there is an instruction paper in the compartment under you. Check in there!" T-Bone yelled over the engine's roar. Streak looked under her seat and there was a piece of paper that read the directions for Razor's computer.

"Ok, so, if I press this button, I engage the throttle for my side." Streak thought to herself. She pushed the button and the jet started to move.

"Good job! Now we're ready for takeoff! Let's GO!" T-Bone yelled. The jet roared and flew into the sky. "Put on your oxygen…Streak?"

Streak was screaming. She was experiencing the thrill of flight at a high speed for the first time in her life. She was going so fast that she couldn't move her arms. "Streak! Streak! Come in! Are you ok!" T-Bone yelled, trying to get to her.

"I…I'm ok! It's just…WAHOO!" Streak yelled from the back of the jet. T-Bone sighed in relief. "Where are we headed? Do you have any idea where Razor and that psycho are?" Streak asked.

"Yeah, Razor had his suit on, so I'm able to pick up his location. He's at the old sawmill in the rural area." T-Bone said.

"The rural area! Mom and Dad are close by! Hurry, we've got to make sure they are ok! Make this thing go faster!" Streak yelled.

"I'll try, it won't be a pleasure cruise, though! "T-Bone yelled. "Hang on tight!" The TurboKat was flying at supersonic speed. "ALMOST! ALMOST!"

"T-Bone, slow it down a bit! I'm going to hurl! SLOW IT DOWN!" Streak yelled. The TurboKat hadn't ever gone this fast ever.

"I don't know if I can! It's never gone this fast! If we want to live, we need to eject, NOW!" T-Bone screamed. "On my signal, press the red button on the left armrest on the seat! Ready…"T-bone was waiting for the right moment to eject. "NOW!" The two pressed the buttons, but Streak's didn't eject.

"T-BONE! HELP ME! AHH!" Streak yelled as the jet spun wildly out of control.

"STREAK! PRESS THE BUTTON AS HARD AS YOU CAN!" T-Bone yelled though the mic. She wasn't ejecting, nor could T-Bone see the plane. "Streak, do you copy? SREAK, ANSWER ME! DO YOU COPY! STREAK!" Back in the jet, Streak was slamming her fist on the button. It still wouldn't eject her.

"EJECT EJECT EJECT! WORK YOU STUPID BUTTON!" Streak yelled. She tried with all of her might to get the seat to eject. She decided that she needed to pull the jet out of supersonic speed. She crawled through a compartment that led her to the pilot's seat. She pulled the bar that was the throttle. The jet started to slow down, and she tried to steer it back toward T-Bone before crashing, possibly to her death. "T-Bone1 I've managed to slow the TurboKat down to normal speed. I need to know where you've landed so I can try to drive it there."

"Streak, thank god you're alive. I'm by the Katlong river delta. The ground is really soft due to the river, so if you crash, you have a good chance of surviving." T-Bone responded.

"Rodger, T-Bone." Streak was driving a real jet. She felt really excited, but she needed to focus. She was running out of gas, fast. "T-Bone, I'm running out of gas too fast! Help!" Streak cried out.

"I can see you, I'll try to fly over and land the jet. Here I come." T-bone said as he got back into his ejected seat and used the small amount of fuel to fly toward the jet. In about 27 minutes, he was able to get aboard the jet. "Move back to Razor's seat so I can get in." He said. Streak opened the hatch, and T-Bone flew in. "Ok, brace yourself, we're going down!" He shouted. Streak braced herself. The jet rapidly lost altitude. Streak thought she was going to die. She wasn't wearing an oxygen mask, and she blacked out.

"Lara…Lara wake up." Lara woke up to see Jake and Chance looking at her. They were at the hanger. "Thank god, you're alright!" Chance said.

"Wait, how did we get here? How did you escape? Did we win the fight?" Lara asked.

"We didn't, Lara. You aren't awake. You are unconscious." Jake said. Lara looked stunned.

"Now Lara, you need to wake up…wake up…wake up, please…" Chance said, as the dream Lara was having was fading into reality. She saw T-Bone looking at her trying to get her to wake up. "Streak, please wake up!" T-Bone said crying. "Please, say something!"

"Something." Streak replied. T-Bone looked over at her. He saw her smiling at him.

"Streak! You hade me so worried! I'm so glad that you're safe!" T-Bone said.

"You know, I don't think that I've ever seen you crying. I like it." Streak joked.

"Well, I can see that you're back to normal. Now, we need to go inside that area and save Razor. He needs us now more than ever." T-Bone said. Streak noticed now more than before that behind his jokester appearance, he had a gentle soul and a kind heart. For a few minutes, she was sitting there, then when he called, she sprang up. Now she needed to help save Razor.

"Ok, here I come." Streak said. The two ran up to the old sawmill. "Boy, it sure seems bigger now." Streak said. She wasn't kidding, it was huge. There had to be at least sixteen stories on it. "Well, let's go in." Streak said. They pushed the door that was opened already. "Well, that's not suspicious." Streak said sarcastically. T-Bone gave her a gesture to go in. They entered the building, but all they could see was a string in a dark room. "What now?" Streak asked.

"Well, I guess we'll pull it." T-Bone said. He reached out to pull the string. When he pulled it, a sign with an arrow pointing downward appeared on the string. Suddenly, the floor underneath T-Bone disappeared. He fell down into the darkness below.

"T-BONE! COME BACK T-BONE!" Streak yelled. She saw him falling down as far as he remained visible.

"CATCH!" T-Bone yelled as he threw something up toward her. She barely caught it.

"It's a flashlight. It can clip on like a hair clip." Streak said. She administered the flashlight to her hair and switched it on. "Oh great, now I need to save _both_ of them. This day just gets better and better. I guess you can't send a man to do a nineteen year old girl's job. Anyway, I suppose that I should go down and find T-Bone first." Streak said as she flipped the light on.

"Streak! I found you!" came a voice from the darkness.

When the person stepped into the light, she knew who it was. "Razor! How did you escape?" Streak said hugging him.

"Well, it wasn't easy. I think that he's going to try to find us as we speak. Where did T-Bone go? I thought I had just heard him with you." Razor asked.

"He fell through the floor into the darkness. I can't see him, even with the flashlight. What do you think happened to him?" Streak asked.

"Why don't you find out yourself!" Razor said as he pushed her down the hole. She knew that wasn't the Razor, the Jake that she knew. She didn't utter a single sound as she fell, just thinking about what happened, and whether it had actually happened. She couldn't even believe that they were the same person. Chance had said that he seemed braver and more different that he did when he wasn't in uniform, but not like that. She closed her eyes, and continued to fall…

Falling…

Falling…

Into the deep abyss…

To Be Continued…


	2. In the darkness

SWAT Kats: The New Recruit

Part 2

We last left off with Streak "reuniting" with Razor. At first, she really thought it was Razor, but when she was pushed down into the darkness where T-Bone was, she wasn't able to even comprehend the event.

Streak was falling though the darkness. As her now pale body flew down the dark passage, she had the images playing in her head continuously. "Not Razor, no, not Razor." She said to herself. She started to cry a bit as the darkness seemed to loom on. "Why…would he…" Streak said as she figured out that it wasn't him.

"Hey? What's that thing?" T-Bone said as she grew closer. She spread her arms out wide in effort to slow down. When she noticed that she wasn't able to fly, she let out the standard scream. "Streak! Hang on, I'll catch you!" T-Bone yelled as she was flailing around in a comical fashion. She was coming closer and closer to the ground and started to flip in the air. T-Bone was standing there confused. "Hey, are you putting on a show or something?" He yelled.

"No, but I know what's going on here." Streak yelled back. Then, after her moment of triumph, she realized how close the ground was to meeting her face. "Oh, and if you don't mind, CATCH ME!" She yelled. T-Bone spread out his arms and she flew right into them, a bit too fast, for it knocked T-Bone over.

"Ok, what were you talking about up there, and why did you fall?" T-Bone asked her. She seemed a bit reluctant to tell him, but she knew it wasn't so.

"Well, you had just fallen, and I was like, 'Oh great, now I have to find both of them.' Just then, who would appear but Razor! We talked for a bit, and then he said that he made it out before that freak caught him. He then _pushed_ me down here, and that's why I…" Streak was interrupted.

"Wait, I've known him for too long to think of him doing something that to a teammate." T-Bone said abruptly. Streak looked aggravated.

"If you would have let me FINISH, I would have explained it. I noticed that Razor was almost fighting whether to push me, and then I noticed that that wasn't Razor. That freak The Avenger of Souls must have possessed him or something of that nature." Streak finished.

"Well, you know what that means…" T-Bone said. Streak knew what he was going to say, and she took the words out of his mouth.

"We've gotta go up there and find him, save him, and kick some MAJOR tail!" Streak said. The two gave each other a high-five and started to run along the dark corridor. "It's dark down here." Streak said. "Oh yeah, I just remembered!" She said flipping the light on. The light revealed many skeletons and cobwebs. There were a few unlit candles, and coffins.

"Who DOES their decorating?" T-Bone joked. Streak gave a chuckle as T-Bone went to a candle. "Hey, what's this?" T-Bone said as Streak rushed over.

"It looks as if it's an unlit match. We can use it to light the candles!" Streak pointed out the obvious. T-Bone lit the match and lit the candle. The candle illuminated a passageway.

"Hey, look at this! A passage! Maybe it leads to where Razor is!" T-Bone said with hope.

"No way are we going through there until I do an electro-scan." Streak said. She pulled out one of Razor's devices.

"Where'd you get that?" T-Bone asked.

"I found it in Razor's glove compartment." Streak said with a wink. "He sure loves his toys." Streak began scanning by using the electromagnetic field around the passage. There was only a floor there, but she didn't trust it. She opened the passage.

"Can we go on?" T-Bone asked her. Streak threw a rock into the passage and it flew right through the floor. "Ok, I guess not…" The two continued with the candle that T-Bone lit earlier, lighting all of the other candles on the path. The two reached the end of the corridor and came to a wall. "Hey, there's a paper here! It reads, 'In order to proceed, you must have lit all of the candles in their torch holders." Well, they are all lit! Why can't we go on?" T-Bone yelled annoyed.

"Because it said lit and IN THEIR TORCH HOLDERS. Now do you get it?" Streak said half annoyed, half joking. She wasn't mad at T-Bone; it was just her eagerness to kick The Avenger of Souls' tail that she seemed a bit edgy. "Sorry for snapping, T-Bone, but I guess that we'll have to put this in the torch holder." Streak said. A second piece of paper appeared in front of her, which made her scream and jump behind T-Bone.

"This one says; 'You can not leave this door in the dark, otherwise bad things may happen. Once the candles are all in, they will go out. You must find your way back yourself.' Oh great." T-Bone said sarcastically.

"Uh…who…whose going to go down the creepy corridor and back?" Streak said, trembling.

"Don't worry, I'll do it." T-Bone said courageously. He walked down the corridor until he looked like a small speck of himself. He placed the candle in the torch holder, and the candles went out. The passage opened. T-Bone was freaked out a bit. "Ok, T-Bone. You can do this. Just keep moving along until you see Streak…" He said to himself.

"T-Bone! Help!" came Streak's voice. T-Bone shook the fear off of him and went to help Streak. "Let go of me you murderous being of existence!" Streak yelled before kicking the figure in the stomach. She freed herself just as T-Bone arrived.

"What's goin' on?" He asked. Streak pointed to the dark figure which avoided the light. It ran up the newly revealed passage's stairs. "Well, looks like we're goin' up!" T-Bone said as he ran into the passage. Streak sprinted close to him. The two opened the door, and found the entrance area where they began.

"Oh great, back where we started. Perfect. Now what do we do?" Streak said with sarcasm. Just then a very possessed Razor appeared in front of them.

"Well, it seems that you've made it out of the dungeon. But you'll never save your pitiful friend." He said menacingly.

"Don't let your guard down, T-Bone. That's not the real Razor, in the mind sense." Streak said. She ran toward him and knocked him unconscious. "THAT is for knocking me into the dungeon." She said, and then she gave him a playful kick. "That's for getting possessed."

"Ok Streak, let's get back to business." T-Bone said. "That freak who possessed Razor must be up at the top of the sawmill. We've got no time to waste!" He ran up the stairs in that room.

"Right. I'm coming!" Streak called as she tried to close the gap between the two. "T-Bone, careful, the floor around here isn't very stable." Streak said as the two made it to an area of flat expanse. They stopped to catch their breath. Both moved slowly as Streak surveyed the ground with each step. "The floor is especially weak here. I'm going to go ahead, hang tight." She told T-Bone as she moved slowly over the weak floor. The floor seemed to become weaker as she moved along.

"Be careful! I don't want you to fall!" T-Bone said with concern. Streak merely nodded to acknowledge his concern.

The floor started to crack "T…T-Bone! It's going to cra…AHH!" Streak said as the floor started to crack. She fell down a flight of stairs, to meet an ever so possessed Razor. (P.S. Don't bother to ask about the ever so possessed and other adjectives I'll give a possessed Razor when he enters, it's just so totally random…)

"Well well well, look what I found." He said with a diabolic look on his face.

"Oh crap." Streak said as she was knocked unconscious by Razor.

"Let her go!" T-Bone demanded as he leapt through the hole left by the crumbling floor. He ran toward Razor, who moved faster than he did when he wasn't possessed. "Well, that's a new trick…" T-Bone said pessimistically. T-Bone ran up the stairs to the place he had been just seconds before. He darted across the floor as it crumbled beneath his feet. He managed to grab the railing of the next staircase while dangling precariously. He managed to pull himself up and got back up on his feet. "Well, that's something I'm definitely NOT going to do again." T-Bone said as he ran up to the next story of the sawmill. Needless to say, he wasn't going to get his wish. There, on the third floor of this insane sawmill, was a wide expanse of nothingness. The only way to cross, to his displeasure, was swinging from monkey bars. "Monkey bars, why did it have to be monkey bars?" He said. T-Bone had an unhappy relationship with monkey bars. When he was seven and Jake was five, the two were playing on monkey bars in the park. Chance was trying to show Jake that he was really fast, but he missed the last bar and fell. He was knocked unconscious and Jake ran for help. Chance was in the hospital because he had to get stitches. That memory haunted Chance whenever he saw those bars. T-Bone swallowed his fear and said to himself that he needed to save his best friends. He went slowly at first, but when he thought about how high he was, he was paralyzed with fear. Meanwhile, Streak was tied to a chair up at the high tower. She tried to reach T-Bone via the earphone communicator.

"T-Bone, this is Streak, do you read me? Where are you?" she whispered, hoping the ever so possessed Razor and her captor wouldn't hear her. T-Bone was too paralyzed to respond. He merely looked ahead and started to think about what would happen to her if he didn't move. "T-Bone, I repeat, do you copy?" She tried again. He started to move now. He moved faster and faster. He was going to conquer his fear to save his two best friends. When he reached the other side of the expanse, he finally responded.

"I copy." He said. Streak let out a sigh of relief. T-Bone started up the stairs. He sent Streak a message. "I'm coming up to the fourth story of the building. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, but I think that that freak and Razor might be after you. Hurry, please…" Streak said. She sounded so scared, T-Bone moved faster. He knew that she was scared, but never like this. He knew that her life may be in danger. If he didn't make it in time, he knew that he would never live it down, not only because of her, but Jake, he was in danger too. Jake was like a brother to him, and Lara was soon to become the little sister of their makeshift family.

"Ok, I'm on my way, and I'll be careful." He said. He rushed up the stairs as fast as he could. He made it to the fourth floor, and there was a wonderful assortment of torture devices that would keep him from the high tower. First on the agenda were some flaming rings that changed size periodically. T-Bone reviewed the pattern and jumped as it was at the peak of enlargement. Next came the electrified monkey bars. T-Bone had some rubber gloves in his pocket, and he used the slightly dirty gloves to dissipate the electric charges. That's what happens when he actually listens to Jake for once. And to top it all off, the pit of doom. "Why is there always a pit of doom?" T-Bone said with a bit of a chuckle. He aimed his glovatrix at the wall opposite him and sent a spear that could be used to pull him over. The spear was latched into the wall securely and T-Bone rode the line to the other side. Meanwhile, in the high tower, Streak and an incredibly possessed Razor have a little chat.

"Razor, I know that you can hear me. You need to fight…OW!" Streak tried to reach Jake, the real Jake, but a slightly over possessed Razor (Ok, I'll stop with the adjectives, I can't think of anymore…T.T) just whacked her.

"Why do you try to reach him? He can't be reached. My master has…ARGH!" He was stopped by the hand of an angry Streak.

"FIGHT IT! FIGHT IT, RAZOR!" She said while continuously slapping him. At first, she thought she reached him, but then Razor shook it off and gave her a mega smack. She went out cold. "…"

"Ok, now I will harvest her soul, also." The Avenger said. Just then, who came into the tower but none other than T-Bone!

"Touch her, and I will destroy you without mercy." He said with a sharp rage. "And you will return Razor to his original state!" The Avenger took his; or its hand away from Streak and focused on T-Bone. Razor took Streak away from the room they were in.

"So, you want to fight, huh? Well, I'll show you my power, and when I win, I'll harvest both of your souls." It said. T-Bone got into fighting mode and lunged at The Avenger. It dodged and fired a bal of energy at T-Bone. He landed with a loud thud that awoken Streak.

"Ugh…" T-Bone said as he tried to recover from that blow. "You…you think that I'll give up that easily?" He said. The Avenger blew w gust at him that knocked him off his feet and blew him into Razor, who was guarding Streak. Razor and T-Bone had been knocked out. The Avenger came closer to Streak.

"Avenger, I challenge you to a match, you versus me. If I win, you release J…I mean Razor from whatever spell you've cast upon him. If I lose…you can harvest my soul." She bargained. T-Bone was awoken at those words.

"No, don't do it!" He pleaded, but she shook her head and put her fists up, ready to fight.

"I accept your challenge." The Avenger said. He pulled out his cane, which had a glowing crystal ball on it. 'That must be how he controls Jake' Lara thought. "Now, we shall begin." The Avenger said. He leapt toward Streak with a dark energy ball at the ready. Streak pulled out a staff of her own, only this one had a blue glow emitting throughout it.

"Bring it!" Streak said courageously as she dashed into battle. She deflected the energy blast that was thrown at her and floated in mid air.

"Since when could you do that?" T-Bone yelled in confusion.

"Um…I don't know, it sorta happened!" Streak replied before she was struck with a blast of lightning. "OW! That really hurt! Now you're gonna get it!" She yelled with anger. She took her staff and flung it at The Avenger. It made contact with him, but just barely. It knocked The Avenger back a bit, but he soon recovered from it. He shot a fireball at Streak and she dodged it. Well…

"Streak, Your hair is on fire!" T-Bone yelled. Razor laughed, but T-Bone punched him in the stomach. "Sorry about that…" He said apologizing to his buddy that he knew was still in there.

"My HAIR! Why you little!" Streak said as her eyes glowed bright red. She unleashed a world of hurt on The Avenger, reducing him to a weak little wimp.

"I give! I give! You are the winner!" He said, trying to keep her from him. He released Razor's soul, just as the deal said.

Razor looked around the room, "Where…am I? Why are we here and why do I feel like someone just punched me in the stomach?" Razor questioned. Streak and T-Bone gave him the look of pure innocence and gave him a mega hug. Razor looked a bit baffled by them giving him a huge hug, but went along with it. The Avenger was in a corner, slumped down…

"I…may have lost," He started. The trio looked at him, "BUT SO HAVE YOU!" He shouted. He released a barrage of lightning at Streak, but Razor and T-Bone took the hits. They were knocked unconscious. Then, whatever it was, disappeared into the night. Streak looked at the two boys that were on the ground and started to cry. She wasn't sure what had happened, or even if her comrades were even still alive. She cried for about half an hour, but she didn't keep track of time, she felt that she had won the battle, but lost the war, and the army. Then, one simple thing reassured her. She felt Razor's hand wipe the tears from her left cheek. T-Bone did the same.

"You're alive!" Streak said as she flung her arms around the boys, crying again.

"Yeah, we are. Now can you do us both a favor and get off of us?" T-Bone joked. Streak gave him a playful jab and the three laughed. They headed out of the tower together. Streak heard them talking, but was wrapped in her thoughts of how close she was to losing her best friends. They made it outside, and it was just about dawn. T-Bone and Razor were fixing the TurboKat, when they saw Streak standing alone by the river. "Hey, Razor," T-Bone whispered, "I mean Jake, go over and talk to Lara. She seems a bit distressed." Chance said.

"Why me? Why don't you ask… " Jake started, but chance gave him a look and Jake headed over toward Lara. "Hey, you feeling alright?" He asked her. Lara didn't respond. "Hey Lara?" H said more loudly this time.

She turned around, shocked. "Oh, yeah…just fine…" She said. Jake knew that something was wrong. He tapped her shoulder and she was forced to tell him. "Ok, I'll tell you. Back in the tower, when you and Chance put yourself in front of me, you could have died. Why did you do that? You had me so worried. I had thought that I'd lost you…"

"Well. We didn't want you to die, so we sacrificed ourselves. Even though we seem like roommates, we're closer than that. Chance and I consider you to be a sister to us. Chance feels strongly about this, and so do I. Like any brothers would do, we put ourselves there to protect you. We're not just friends, now. We're family, Lara." Jake said. Lara began to cry and flung her arms around Jake. He started to blush like mad, and Chance gave some laughs from the TurboKat. Lara gave Jake a kiss on the cheek, and that totally stiffened him up.

"Jake? Hey Chance! I think something is wrong with Jake. I gave him a kiss and now he's solid stiff." Lara said. Chance gave out a huge laugh.

"Bring 'em over! I bet we'll be able to fix him." He said, still laughing. Lara carried Jake over to the TurboKat, and Chance poured some water on him.

" cough cough Hey! Chance! What was that for?" Jake said annoyed. Lara and Chance were laughing harder than ever now. Jake was a bit baffled.

"Anyway, the TurboKat is operational. Let's go home." Chance announced. Lara and Jake took their seats and Chance took off.

"Wait, I need to make one quick stop. We need to tell my parents." Lara said. Jake and Chance talked it over, and agreed to stop by her house. The TurboKat landed seconds later, and Mr. Tailyor came out to see what was going on. Lara hopped out of the jet along with Jake and Chance.

"Daddy! It's me, Lara!" She said. Her father looked a bit baffled, but in the end he noticed that it was indeed his daughter.

"Evelyn, come out here! Lara is home!" Lara's father, Hubert called. Lara's mother came out to greet her.

"Lara! I'm so glad that you're home! Who are your new friends?" Evelyn said.

"Well mom, the big yellow one is Chance Furlong, and the brownish orange one is Jake Clawson. They're my new friends from work." Lara said.

"Oh, so how's the Enforcer job coming along?" Hubert asked Lara.

Lara frowned. "Well, I didn't make it to the Enforcers, so I work in the salvage yard with these two. But don't worry, I'm still saving the city."

"How are you doing that?" Evelyn asked. Lara gave her a big grin.

"I'm a SWAT Kat, mom. So are Chance and Jake." Lara said. The two looked surprised to hear that.

"Lara, you are a SWAT Kat? Incredible! Isn't that incredible, Evy?" Hubert said.

"Dad, you need to keep this a secret. We can't let anyone find out; otherwise they might hurt you or their families. We're counting on you two to keep this a secret, ok?" Lara said solemnly. Lara's father and mother looked at each other, then at Chance and Jake, then Lara.

"Lara, we'll do whatever it takes. We're so very proud of what you're doing. Bless you two young men, who keep our city safe from all of those villains." Evelyn said. Chance and Jake put a hand on Lara's shoulder.

"Thanks, we're just doing our job." Jake said. He gave them a communicator. "Here, if anything out of the ordinary happens, just give us a call. We'll be on it. Don't worry." Jake said.

"Thank you young man. Now, Lara, I'm sure that you have some important things to do. Run along, now." Hubert said.

"Will do, pop. I love you." Lara said as she and Jake headed to the TurboKat.

"Mr. Furlong." Hubert said. "Take good care of our daughter for us."

"Will do, sir." Chance said as he shook hands with him. Chance jumped into the pilot's seat and started up the engine. The TurboKat flew off to the salvage yard, where the trio got out of their flight suits and into their pajamas, Chance in a white shirt and black pants combo, Jake in a red t-shirt underneath a green shirt and blue pants, and Lara in a green shirt under a red button down pajama shirt and purple pants. Chance let her sleep in his room for the night until they made one for her. Jake was in the next room, and Chance was on the couch. Jake went to sleep first, Lara second. Chance went to check on Lara, and then went to bed himself. A few hours later, they were awoken by the scent of Lara's cooking.

"Hey Lara, what're you making?" Jake asked her.

"I'm making some pancakes, chocolate chip to be exact." Lara replied. Chance came in last.

"So, what are we doing today?" Chance asked everyone as they sat down to eat. "I've got to test some maneuvers out in the TurboKat." Chance said between mouthfuls of food.

"I'm going to work on putting some equipment in Lara's seat, so don't crash, Chance" Jake said.

"I need to go to school, so I'm going to need to leave soon." Lara said. Chance and Jake looked a bit stunned at first. "Hey, I told you that I was still in college." Lara said. Lara continued to eat.

"Well, do you have a ride?" Chance asked her. Lara shook her head.

"I left my skateboard at home, and just now remembered. I'll go and pick it up after school." Lara said as she took her plate to the sink. She ran to get her backpack. "But I'll walk today." Lara said.

"No you won't." Chance said. Lara turned to look at him. "I'll take you. My car was the blue one that wasn't smashed up out front." Lara poked her head around the corner and saw the car he was talking about.

"Ok, well, we'd better get moving. Classes start in a few minutes." Lara said as she ran out the door. Chance grabbed his keys and ran out as well.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Jake said as he ran out also. Lara was sitting in front, Jake in back, Chance at the wheel. "Chance, remember, you're going to drive in a school zone, not the open skies, so don't go from 0-60." Jake said, hoping that he'd get to Chance. Chance was driving normally.

"Well, see ya later!" Lara said as she ran up to class. Jake and Chance waved back. Lara saw her friends waiting for her by the entrance. "Hey, Claire! Sammy! I missed you two!" Lara said as the three hugged before walking to class.

"Who were those two guys that dropped you off? Were they enforcers, too? Did you get the job?" Sammy said as she brushed her hair out of her face.

"In order, Chance and Jake; they were; and no." Lara said. The two looked stunned as she was just able to walk normally after not making it.

"Lara, I thought that you'd make it for sure! How can you be so calm afterwards? I'd be in fits of rage?" Claire said. Sammy and Lara laughed a bit, and then spoke.

"Well, I found a liking to my new job. Anyway, We'd better hurry to class otherwise Mrs. Havern will have our heads." Lara said as she and Sammy rant into the building. Claire followed them in. Claire and Lara had the first class together, but by the second period, they were in separate classes. Just as the lunch bell rang, Lara got a call from Jake. It seems that Dr. Viper is out wrecking downtown. Lara signed herself out at the main office and ran to the salvage yard with a smile.

Teh End.


End file.
